The Opportunity Fund: Don’t Wish, Be Prepared

$350 tickets to Europe

“You can wish in one hand, and take a crap in the other hand. But, only one hand has something in it.” This was a quote from my 8th grade football coach, in my only year of playing football. I learned I didn’t enjoy playing football as much as I thought I would, and I learned from Coach Shannon some fun sayings. I have used the one above in my life to prepare for the future on a regular basis. Coach Shannon taught us that preparing was a major key to being successful at many things in life, and you can’t just wish and hope for success. It takes work!

Part of that preparation is once you get out of debt, and to a good place monetarily, then you need to look for wealth building opportunities. I started doing this in small increments over the years with $500 here and $200 there in a separate account, as just in case money. I renamed it an opportunity fund, since that is what I used it for most of the time. I had $2,000 in this fund a few years ago, and low and behold I found some $350 plane tickets to Europe, and was able to jump on the opportunity. This last summer I only had $400 in the opportunity fund, so when I decided to buy some Bitcoin my $4,000 fortune began with the $400 opportunity fund. I wasn’t so prepared for this run.

I use the opportunity fund for many reasons, such as travel deals, investments, last

Lobsta Roll Opportunity

minute experiences, such as a great Groupon deal to a trampoline park, Great Wolf Lodge, or a massage, and I can use it cover my butt if I just eat out too much or screw up the budget. But, lately I want to expand my opportunity fund to dream bigger. I would like to have about $10,000 or more in the fund just in case a huge opportunity comes my way. I’m talking like a small rental property, round the world travel for months, or maybe a huge investment opportunity such as another Bitcoin type gamble.

One of the rules of dreaming this big is that the opportunity fund is money I can afford to lose, so it’s a fun thing for me. However, if you lose $10,000 in cash, I’m not sure I can meet the rule of fun money any longer. $10,000 can do a lot of good, and maybe the opportunities I should look for can change a person’s life like a year of junior college, or even buy some groceries for people. So, my opportunity fund is evolving in my mind as I ponder what is the next step for me to both build wealth, and be responsible with money and experiences.

So, as I build my opportunity fund $50 at a time with money left in the budget (I always try to budget high, so I have left over money), I will try to be prepared for the next big opportunity instead of wishing I had the money to do things. Build an opportunity fund with your tax refund this year if you haven’t ever tried this idea before and be prepared, not wishing.